15 April 2023 , 09:04
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Lounging by the pool on a pre-season trip, the penny dropped with Gordon Smith that he was never going to live down the moment which made him famous worldwide.
As Manchester City's players enjoyed some down-time between games in Kuala Lumpur, a young Malaysian autograph-hunter weaved between sunloungers on the hotel pool terrace collecting signatures, examining each one like a passport officer at the border.
When Smith obliged with his eminently legible squiggle, the boy's face lit up and he exclaimed: “Ha! You are Gordon Smith? How you miss in the Cup final?” Dissolving into fits of laughter, Smith's team-mates fell off their sunbeds in uncontrolled mirth.
“Even though I was 5,000 miles away with a different club, there was no escape from it,” said Smith. “I had to ask the lads if they had put the kid up to it, but they swore blind they didn't. In those days, the FA Cup final was probably the biggest televised game in the world. In the last minute of extra time, I had a chance to win the Cup for the underdogs and I didn't put it away.
“I've had to live with that moment for the last 40 years, and I will probably take it with me to the grave. I have to laugh about it now – what else can I do?”
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The moment in question was Brighton 's last-gasp chance to win their first major trophy in the 1983 Cup final against Manchester United. An absorbing game was deadlocked at 2-2 when Michael Robinson presented Smith, 10 yards out, with a glorious chance to write his name in Cup folklore like the message running through a stick of Brighton rock.
“And Smith must score”... (Bob Thomas Sports Photography via Getty Images)BBC radio commentator Peter Jones' famous soundbite - “And Smith must score” - became the Albion striker's cross to bear after United keeper Gary Bailey smothered his shot and it lodged safely between his legs. The Red Devils won the replay 4-0 at a canter. It is arguably the most famous 'miss' at Wembley since Don Fox, slipping on the waterlogged pitch, shanked a simple conversion under the posts to win the dramatic 1968 Rugby League Challenge Cup final for Wakefield Trinity with the last kick of the game, and they lost 11-10.
Except, of course, Smith didn't miss – Bailey saved. And Smith did score, because he headed Brighton's opening goal against United, but nobody remembers that. With the passage of time, Smith's date with destiny has sometimes developed a false narrative of its own.
On a British Airways flight from Glasgow to London, he was surprised to read, in the in-flight magazine, that he had missed an open goal. “I tried to get a cheap flight out of them for that,” laughed Smith. “To this day, I still think I didn't get enough contact on my shot, and I still feel bad for the fans, my team-mates and the manager.
Too close to call: Manchester United defender Kevin Moran is challenged by Michael Robinson of Brighton in the 1983 Cup final (David Cannon/Allsport/Getty Images)“I should have changed the whole history of the club, and I've never got over it. The following season, one opponent tried to wind me up that I would never score the winning goal in a cup final, and I had to put him right because I scored the winner for Rangers against Celtic in the 1978 Scottish League Cup final at Hampden.
“I also won the domestic treble for Rangers in my first season, so I have tasted the positive side of it, but the Brighton one was more hurtful because it was the biggest game on the sporting calendar.”
Smith, now 68, will be among the guests at Brighton's reunion to mark the 40th anniversary of their near-miss with glory next month. There will be nostalgic tales of manager Jimmy Melia's white dancing shoes, Brighton travelling to Wembley by helicopter and, perhaps, another FA Cup final appearance to toast.
Next weekend's semi-final against United will bring memories of 1983 flooding back, but this time it's a genuine toss-up between Roberto De Zerbi's thrilling, progressive side knocking on the doors of Europe and resurgent giants hoping to land three cups in a season.
“I'm still following Brighton closely,” said Smith. “I'm so glad that, after all the hard times they went through, having to leave the Goldstone Ground and dip into the lower divisions, the club is in such rude health now. I was astonished to discover that Leandro Trossard's hat-trick at Anfield was Brighton's first in the top flight since mine against Coventry at Highfield Road in 1980 – we were 3-0 down after 18 minutes but fought back to draw 3-3.
“But the current team is so enjoyable to watch. There's every chance of a happier ending at Wembley this time.”
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